On Monday, Russia urged the United States to release Afghan central bank reserves. Since the Taliban took over power in Kabul earlier this month, money and assets have been blocked. According to Zamir Kabulov, Kremlin envoy to Afghanistan, ‘if our Western colleagues are actually concerned about the fate of the Afghan people, then we should not create additional problems’ for them.
Apparently, these events need to be unfrozen immediately in the United States. Rossiya 24 is a state-run television network. To boost the value of the collapsing national currency, he said the assets must be unfrozen. Kabulov warned that, if this wasn’t done, the new authorities would turn to ‘the trafficking of illegal opiates’ and ‘sell on the black market the weapons’ abandoned by the Afghan army and the United States.
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As of the end of April, the Afghan central bank had gross reserves of $9.4 billion, according to the IMF. Most of these funds are held outside of Afghanistan. Despite Washington’s assertion that the Taliban will not have access to US assets, no amount has been specified. It has long been the world’s largest producer of opium and heroin, with profits from the illicit trade helping to fund the Taliban.
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